Something Really, Really Dangerous, By Okey Ndibe

The article below was written by Okey Ndibe Tuesday, 8 July, 2014 for Premium Times newspaper where he expresses his personal view on the Nigerian reality, cruelty and indifference of politicians, the value of a child’s life and exigency to raise consciousness in Nigerian people. Statements made and opinions expressed in the article represent the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Naij.com.

The writer, Okey Ndibe

Something really, really dangerous has happened in Nigeria. It is the reduction of human life to the scale of an ant. It is not about to happen; it has happened already. Forget all the talk about 2015 and the coming general elections. Forget the debate about the PDP and the APC. Ignore the news that Nigeria has vaulted into the largest economy in Africa. Don’t bother about the bloated national conference and its tiresome deliberations. The most urgent issue in Nigeria, the issue that ought to keep Nigerians awake, is the evident abrogation (not devaluation) of human life. The evidence stares us in the face each passing day. Day after day, Nigerians are massacred in some savage attack. Nigeria is a country in the grips of a blood lust. It’s as if, every waking day, there’s a promise of senseless death coming the way of some hapless Nigerians.

Death or bereavement by Boko Haram has become a daily occurrence, even a guarantee. In the last week and a half, Israeli authorities spared no resource to find three missing, abducted schoolchildren. When their remains were discovered, apparent victims of murder, the Israeli government stepped up reprisals against their suspected killers. Human rights organizations have flayed Israel’s excessive and indiscriminate use of violence against Palestinians. I’m troubled by such overreach. But the lesson is not lost on me: Israel reminds us how a nation-state behaves when any of its citizens is killed or even put in harm’s way. From the explosive, strife-torn Middle East to the streets of Philadelphia in the United States. Last Saturday, a roaring fire consumed residential blocks in Philadelphia.